Fury of the Emperor:

The night sky over Ferrion III blazed with light as, like a meteor shower, the drop-pods descended. On the ground, the Tau occupiers waited nervously as Broadside battlesuits hammered at the fast-approaching pods with their cannon. One pod was hit, and exploded overhead, raining fire and shrapnel down on its killers. Moments later, the first drop-pods began slamming into the Tau lines. The lead pods doors clanged down and a figure charged out, followed by five more, firing into their foes. A fire warrior jerked back from the line as a bolter shell punched through his armour and pulverised his chest. Another was incinerated in a gout of burning promethium from the squad's flamer marine. The sergeant unsheathed an antique power sword, whilst firing towards the Tau lines with his plasma pistol.

Suddenly a voice sounded in his helmet vox."Knossos to all Imperial Fists" it said "All units commence attack pattern gamma-five."The sergeant turned to his squad and lowered his sword towards the enemy."Charge!"he cried, breaking into a run, his squad following suit. The Tau responded with a withering storm of fire. One marine was decapitated by a pulse round, and another lost an arm, but kept on coming, firing his bolter one-handed. Then the charge hit home, and Tau began to die. The sergeant hacked the legs from under a pathfinder and shot a kroot through the chest, as up and down the line, the other squads engaged the enemy. Another marine died, crushed by a Crisis suit, but his battle-brothers swiftly avenged him, riddling his killer with bolter fire at point-blank range. Suddenly, a huge tremor shook the earth, and an inhuman roarof bloodlust rent the air. Something huge was charging towards the Imperial Fists, battering Tau aside in its haste to reach them.

"A Greater Knarloc" breathed the sergeant. "Brothers" he called "Bring it down before it reaches us!" Around him, his squad took up firing positions, and opened fire as the huge kroot beast bore down upon them. Before any shots could tell, the knarloc was amongst them. It smashed one marine aside with enough force to cave in his armour, and bit a second in half with its enormous beak. As his squad died around him, the sergeant stepped forwards to do battle with the beast. He muttered a brief prayer to the Emperor, then raised his sword, bringing it crashing down onto the beast's flank, carving out a huge chunk of flesh. In response, the knarloc knocked him down with a clawed leg, pinning him in place with the other as it lowered its head towards him.

Completely unable to move, the sergeant began to pray, calmly commending his soul to the Emperor. The great head moved even closer, and the huge beak opened in anticipation. Suddenly, a bolter roared, and the knarloc's head snapped sideways. Slowly, ponderously, it began to fall, blood and brain matter leaking from its shattered skull. Painfully, the sergeant pulled himself to his feet, his right arm hanging limp and useless, and looked about for his saviour. He found him a few metres away, with his back turned as he fired an ornately crfted and heavily modified bolter at a group of fleeing Tau. He wore power armour of halved blue and green, with black robes over it. He turned at the sergeant's approach, revealing the beak of a MK IV helmet. The sergeant reached up and wrenched his own battered helmet off.

"What is your name, brother?" he called. Cold blue visor lenses regarded him. "I am Brother Kestare of the Sternguard, from the Fists of Retribution, brother-sergeant." "You saved me brother. My name is sergeant Tannion, of the Imperial Fists 4th Company, and I owe you a life-debt." The marine who had introduced himself as Kestare spun suddenly, loosing a tight grouping of bolt rounds into the chest of a Crisis suit, crumpling its armour like paper. He turned back to Tannion and said "Come with me. I expect the captain will want to debrief you." With that, he set off across the battlefield, Tannion close behind him, as the Imperial forces closed in on the battered remnants of the Tau army.

A few minutes later, the pair stood before the command post, a prefab bunker dropped into place by a low-flying Thunderhawk. Kestare punched a code into a keypad on the wall, and a door slid open to reveal the red-lit interior. "Inside" said Kestare. As Tannion dropped into the bunker, six armoured heads turned to stare at him. "Captain" said Kestare from behind him "He's a survivor from the assault. His squad was wiped out by what we think was a Greater Knarloc, which would confirm the scout's report." The captain, a tall, brooding figure in his armour, moved into the light. Two swords of clearly ancient design were sheathed by his sides, and his helmet was off, revealing a demi-visage of polished silver, modelled into a perfect facsimile of a flensed human skull. The right side of his face was deeply tanned, with a piercing green eye staring out from a dark socket. "Sergeant" he said, in a low, rasping voice. "I an 1st Captain Justaerin Solkan of the Fists of Retribution. Tell me, what killed your men?" The sergeant took a deep breath. " As far as I can tell, brother-captain, it was some kind of great kroot beast, the size of a tank. My brothers didn't stand a chance." He shook his head sadly. "Thank you sergeant" said Solkan. "I thought as much. You should return to your bretheren. Go with the Emperor." Tannion saluted. "May He watch over you, captain." So saying, he turned and marched from the command post.

Once Tannion had left, Solkan turned to his men and swore angrily. "God-Emperor damn him, Knossos is an idiot!" he cried suddenly. "What was he thinking, committing his entire force without conducting any scouting missions. Idiot!" he ranted. "I met him once before, you know" he went on "At the last Feast of Blades, when he was still a sergeant, and he was an idiot then. Do you remember him, Tancred?" he asked. "Aye" said one of the robed warriors. "He tried to get me to talk about Calypsus IX." "Gah! Brainless fool! How he ever made captain I'll never know" muttered Solkan. "The worst thing is I have to spend the entire fucking crusade saving his sorry arse on every damned planet we come to." He spat disgustedly. "Come on" he said "There's nothing more to be done here. Kestare, call up a Thunderhawk. I'm sick of this world." Then, still muttering angrily to himself, he turned and stalked out of the bunker, his marines close behind him.